Spain’s troubled Benicassim festival set to go ahead in 2013

Spain’s Benicassim festival is set to go ahead next year, despite the fact that last month its parent company went into administration.

The event has now been bought back from administrators by Vince Power, who was previously in charge of the event through his Music Festivals company, which went under in September. BBC Newsbeat reports that Power is “delighted” with the new deal. The event will take place from July 18-21, 2013.

Power’s Music Festivals company – which was also behind the Hop Farm Festival – was worth just £310,000 at the time of its collapse, after this year’s Benicassim and Kent’s Hop Farm proved to be loss-making, despite pulling in big-name headliners such as Bob Dylan.

Power – who owned 23 per cent of the company – propped up Music Festivals PLC with a £750,000 unsecured loan in July, but it wasn’t enough to save the business.

Power opened his first venue, The Mean Fiddler, in northwest London in 1982. He launched and backed many more venues and events, including London’s Forum and Reading Festival, turning Mean Fiddler into the largest promoter in Europe. In 2002, he took operational control of Glastonbury and sold Mean Fiddler in 2005 for £38 million.